Sirpent "Z"

[Sirpent]

Sorry Buddy, I was waiting for someone to start either the "Hairdresser or Shrek in a Z" jokes to start, so I thought I'd save myself the agony.

 

When that car was finished the first time it turned heads everywhere, when I find the Hi-Res pics I took outside of the Governors Mansion in Melbourne I will post them the paint job was flawless.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Sirpent]

OK

 

Just picked up the calipers from the powder coaters, look a bit pink in parts of the photo but this is due to the flash, otherwise they are a true Signal red and the finish is beyond what I expected, next they are off back to the brake re-builder to have complete kits put through them and re-assembled.

 

Cheers

 

John

[RB30X]

Wow they look good. What are they off originally, are the rears R31??

[Sirpent]

Ones to the left (For the rear) are r31's and the ones on the right (for the front) are the Hi-Lux Surf S12W 4pot calipers.

 

Coating cost me 65.00 for the lot

[Sirpent]

Well my evil twin Loui was starting to catch up to me, and after 2 weeks of failed attempts to start the EP (Epoxy Polyester) priming, I made a start today.

 

As there is a fair bit of surface rust that formed over the past few months since the blasting was done, I decided to do one panel at a time so as to really clean the surfaces to their max potential and then lock them up in EP.

 

As promised I will write a Tutorial on preping, priming, sanding etc of the EP as requested, in the meanwhile here are a few examples of the process started at 10.00am this morning and finished at 4.00pm this afternoon.

 

Allow 1 hr down time for the 20 Dunhill Blues and 4 cups of coffee.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Sirpent]

More

[Sirpent]

More

[FLEXZED]

bro

 

me catcthing up, i dont think so

 

looking good mate

 

i was useing slave labour as well today, only cost me 2 salami sandwiches

 

[reverendzed]

John, was the etch still wet or does it have a gloss off the gun?

Rev.

[Sirpent]

No etch primer Rev, EP goes straight onto bare metal.

 

I first apply a base mist coat just enough to cover the metal, let that flash off, after that I apply double header coats and let each flash off before the next double headers.

 

In all it carrying about 6 double header coats.

 

I will now lock off the other panels in stages the same way and then probably start dry hand blocking them in the new year after which I will then etch prime the inner jams and apply a high fill over all the shell panels in the one hit before wet hand sanding it back.

 

Cheers

 

John

[C.A.R.]

Looks good mate! Going to be a different car when it's all in EP

[Sirpent]

Thanks Buddy

 

Actually the mint color is growing on me..........NOT 

 

The proof will be in the first dry hand blocking though, but Im pretty confident so far, adhesion looks very good.

 

John

[MaygZ]

No etch primer Rev, EP goes straight onto bare metal.

 

I first apply a base mist coat just enough to cover the metal, let that flash off, after that I apply double header coats and let each flash off before the next double headers.

 

In all it carrying about 6 double header coats.

 

I will now lock off the other panels in stages the same way and then probably start dry hand blocking them in the new year after which I will then etch prime the inner jams and apply a high fill over all the shell panels in the one hit before wet hand sanding it back.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

WOW.  I wish I knew WTF you are talking about.  Again in engrish?  :-\

[Sirpent]

WOW.  I wish I knew WTF you are talking about.  Again in engrish?  :-\

 

OK Simon,

 

In English.............

 

When doing a bare metal respray, the metal must be pre-primed with whats termed an etch primer, its a foundation coat that adheres to the metal and allows you to then either use a modern 2pac primer, hi-fill primer or acylic based primers on top.

 

The gear Im using is called EP which stands for Epoxy Polyester, it is like a sprayable body filler but does not need an etch primer, you spray it straight onto bare metal.

 

I was telling Rev I first apply a mist coat, which is just a covering light coat to only just cover the metal followed by double header coats which means that each time I pass over the entire surface with a coat I immediately do another pass instead of waiting for it to flash.

 

Flash is when the material in appearence goes from a very wet looking first applied appearence to a more satin matt looking apperence, what happens when the material flashes is the the solvent in the coat which is the delivery system for the material (Thinners or reducer used to water it down so you can spray it) evaporates leaving the solid primer material.

 

If you need to know more details, youre welcome to ask.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Sirpent]

Some pics of the Right Hand 1/4 that I knocked off today.

 

Will be writing a full blown tutorial, complete with step by step pics for the non paint and panel savy members tomorrow, no pun or insults intended, at least this will give the budding Z restorer enthusiast a heads up on how to tackle this side of a restoration.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Mr240z]

I love learning new stuff.....Amazing build so far.

 

That green dose grow on you.

[Sirpent]

Thanks Paul,

 

Your comments are very appreciated, will post a PDF of the Tutorial ASAP.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Sirpent]

What do you get when you cross the following 3 together ?

 

If you remember a previous post in this thread and the concept pic I posted then you will know what Im talking about, Yes I have finally started the air dam / bar build and have all 3 components now, pictures of "The Franken-Bar" progress shortly, lots of pictures.

 

Stay tuned.

[Sirpent]

Stage 1 - Rough Mock Up

 

OK just a sneak peek at what I have been up too, I have taken a heap of progressive pics so if someone wants a tutorial written on fibroglass prototyping using odds and end I will be happy to do so.

 

So far Im extremely happy with the shape and look, and once I have finished this mock up down to fine shaping and highfilling, its off to get a female mould made and get it reproduced in Carbon Fibre.

 

Cheers

 

John

[garvice]

How are you proposing to tie it into the wheel well? Will it continue the shape of the spoiler or the shape of the fender?

 

Forgot to say, looking good.

[Sirpent]

Thanks Mate,

 

Next step is to cut away the wheel arch (Probably about 10cm's) from what you can see on the lower half of the spoiler which was designed for a much shorter nosed 350Z and re-locate that to the wheel arch of the 260Z guard and build an infill section which will be fibroglassed to extend the spoiler all the way to the guard section that was re-located.

[zzzzed]

interesting build It looks like it is going to sit low at the front.

Ill be keeping an eye on this 

[Sirpent]

interesting build It looks like it is going to sit low at the front.

Ill be keeping an eye on this 

 

Thanks Mick,

 

It looks very low, but I have lined it up with the height of the sill panels, guess the reason it looks so is that the nose slops so much due to the upper "Alfa Sports" G-Nose section I used that is makes it look a lot more beefy, when I first self tapped it all together I thought no way to low, but then I looked at it from a number of angles and realised why, plus this really fixes the thin long look of the original G-Nose and gives it some volume.

 

I know that it will still be a problem with speed humps and steep driveways, but this is going to be my cruiser not daily ride so hopefully with some caution I should be right.

 

I can however slice it again just below the intakes and take another 5cm's out to lift it, but it looks so sweet from the side when you see it line up with the sills on a string line I ran.

 

P.S. Mick, when are you going to write that tutorial on paint stripping?

[Sirpent]

Hers a side on shot of the actual height, dosnt seem so bad from this angle, you can also see how much it has to be extended back by to meet the wheel arch.

[hunterzed]

Thats coming along really nicely John. You must be pleased with your progress and how the picture in your mind is taking shape so readily.